


Belief

by Merfilly



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Introspection, Leadership, M/M, Rare Pairing, War Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-04
Updated: 2011-08-04
Packaged: 2017-10-22 04:56:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/234034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunstreaker knows his opinions, and while Prime's differ, they matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belief

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by one line of dialogue in _Footloose_ : "I just don't know if I believe in everything that you believe in. But I believe in you."

The decking beneath Sunstreaker's pedes cracked, tilting dangerously fast before he could recover, as he was still intent on delivering a blow to his opponent. His opponent kicked in his heel jets to escape the cave-in happening, causing Sunstreaker to snarl and try to lunge up for him, but he had nothing stable to push against.

Even as he corrected, and began to scramble off the breaking deckplating, a solid shot hit his opponent square in the abdomen, knocking the other mech to the far side of the caving plates, out of the air. That was incentive for where Sunstreaker intended to go, as he was not finished by a long shot.

::Autobots, regroup.:: The commanding tones brought yet another savage sound to the fore as Sunstreaker had nearly reached stability and his downed opponent. Of course, the Decepticon was quickly trying to recover, but Sunstreaker would end that dream. ::Sunstreaker.::

Implicit in his designation being drilled through his personal frequency was an order to obey, which Sunstreaker very nearly ignored, as well as a more personal, private plea to do as commanded. That tone, the request, he could not ignore as easily.

"Next time, 'Con!" Sunstreaker growled before clearing the distance to where the Autobots were circling in on their leader, allowing, to Sunstreaker's disgust, the beaten Decepticons a chance to retreat.

::Should have finished them off.:: The angry send was strictly heard by Prime, who turned his optics in that direction. Sunstreaker remained on the outskirts of the Autobots, just waiting for some Decepticon to take a pot-shot and give him an excuse to resume fighting.

::We have injured that were at risk, and we are not them.::

The words made little sense to Sunstreaker. The injured would either survive for aid or not, having given all they were to the cause. The Decepticons had been severely weakened. A solid push would have taken out several fighters from their enemy.

Optimus Prime, however, was a mech known for mercy when he could give it. Sunstreaker had never understood it, had eyed the few converts from the enemy with suspicion when Prime's tactics had made it possible for such defections, yet... it worked. They had not won the war, but given who had the larger army, who had more resources, it was a thing of amazement that the Autobots had held on to as much of the planet as they had so far.

`~`~`~`~`

Optimus Prime was not in his recharge berth, his office, nor medical, helping with repairs, Sunstreaker rapidly discovered once he had been certain Sideswipe's damage was superficial. Of course, he added a dent of his own, slamming his brother's helm back against the wall for having been slow enough to get tagged in the first place.

He found his Prime outside the walls of safety, alone, staring up at the dark sky but not seeing it; Sunstreaker would wager his stash of high grade on that.

"Ironhide'd be livid, you out here beyond the perimeter, not another mech in sight. Bet no one even knows you're out here," Sunstreaker said as he walked up. Another mech might have heard an ugly threat in that, given Sunstreaker's notoriety for contesting authority, but Prime gave him that look, the one that seemed to understand everything about Sunstreaker in one fell swoop.

"If Red Alert doesn't know it, I would be surprised," Prime pointed out. He did shift, making more space on the ruined wall he was using as a back brace, in case Sunstreaker chose to join him in sitting down.

The former gladiator did so, unwilling to court random Seeker fire by giving up a noticeable silhouette. "Saw him in medical still, giving up a fluid transfer for Inferno," Sunstreaker offered, showing that he had noticed his fellow Autobots.

"Ahh." Prime did not take his gaze from the skies though, and the heavy weight of hard-thinking was palpable between the mechs.

"They say brooding is Prowl's job," Sunstreaker pointed out, letting his own temper over the fight's end slide away in response to Optimus being so... distant.

"I am not brooding, Sunstreaker. I am considering your opinion on my methods, as well as the opinion of others." Prime's voice was weighted, heavy, and Sunstreaker could feel now how drawn in and muted the leader's fields were as he admitted that.

"Yeah?" Sunstreaker's processor stumbled over the idea that his opinion could even matter to someone as important as Optimus Prime. He was just a fighter, a Pit-spawn good for nothing but scrapping other mechs. Granted, he was the best at doing that, and had always shone in his environment, but he knew the real leaders in the world never even thought twice about him, or any of them.

At least they hadn't, until Megatron took advantage of the Tarn situation. Sunstreaker's digits curled into a fist, and his shoulder started aching with memory of that last fight.

"Perhaps in trying not to become my enemy, I am leaving far too many opportunities for them to destroy more of all we ever held on this planet," Optimus Prime said aloud. "Maybe you are right, and I am too merciful in allowing the weakened to return to Megatron, rather than destroying each enemy who refuses surrender."

A chill settled in Sunstreaker's spark. Yeah, he felt that way, but Prime...

He felt all twisted inside again as he brushed up against that inherent difference between them. Yes, Optimus Prime had a quietly savage core, built in anger and betrayal of some kind that Sunstreaker had seen, had felt. It was one of the things that kept drawing the ex-gladiator to his leader in these quiet moments between battles. However, beneath it all, at the very base of who Optimus was, there was something bright, something alluring in its simplistic innocence of faith in others.

Sunstreaker needed Optimus Prime to call the end to a battle. He needed to know there was more to life than to merely survive, that reaching for higher purposes was not without cause. And yet, Sunstreaker did not know how to express it, how to show his Prime that being just as he was was so needful.

"At least sending them back eats up their resources," Sunstreaker finally said, aware the silence had stretched far longer than he was comfortable allowing.

Optimus let a brief sound escape his vocalizer, acknowledging the attempt at humor in those words.

"Seriously, Optimus. You said it yourself. You won't ever be Megatron, but if you start executing your enemies who can't fight back? You're worse than him. You're the nobles who said we should fight for the honor of our cities, so they could be amused at our suffering," Sunstreaker told him, voice completely serious as he saw the way to shake Prime free of this dark mood.

Optimus looked down at his companion, optics flared as all those implications coursed through his processor, and the flare of his fields in absolute negation of the idea reassured Sunstreaker more than even his next words.

"I trust in you, Sunstreaker, to never let me reach that level of hubris."

"You never could, Prime." Sunstreaker let a laugh escape, bitter and too self-aware. "You're not me, and you're not him."

Optimus shifted again, and now the lines of their frame connected, fields overlapping, and the silence that fell this time was not so heavy.


End file.
